Kamla Das the great poetess and prolific writer in Malayalam and English died on May 31 at the age of 75 in India. She was author of popular English works "The Sirens", "Summer in Calcutta", "The Descendants", "Alphabet of Lust" and "Old Play House".
Her Malayalam book 'Ente Katha' (My Story) was translated into 15 different languages. She served as Poetry Editor of the famous Illustrated Weekly of India and Orient Editor of 'The Poet' monthly. She was awarded Asian Poetry Prize in 1964, Kent Award in 1965, Academy Award, Asian World Prize and few honorary doctorates from leading universities. She was also short listed for the Nobel Prize.
She was born on March 31, 1934 in a literary Hindu family of Thrissur district. She was the child of Nalapat B. Yamma and V.M. Nair, who was managing editor of Malayalam monthly called 'Motherland.' Kamla acquired the taste for literature from her parents. She was married at the age of 15, to Madhav Das, who was senior consultant to IMF. She had three sons who are well qualified and hold good positions in the society.
Her first real contact with Islam came when she took two blind Muslim boys, Irshad Ahmad and Imtiaz Ahmad, under her wing and began to teach them as social service. She was much impressed with the devotion and dedication of these blind boys. She began to learn the concept of Oneness of God against polytheism. The boys learned from her and she learned from them. It took her 27 years to come to the Himalayan decision. The two boys later became a professor at Darjeeling and barrister in London.
She developed a curiosity in her mind. She read the story of Prophet Ibrahim in Holy Qur'an, that, how he was attracted by the sun and the moon to be his God? But he turned away when he saw them fading away. She also prayed to 'unseen god' to lead her on the right path.
One morning, she says "I was traveling in a car from Malabar to Kochi. I started the journey at 5.45 a.m. I looked at the rising sun. Surprisingly it had the color of a setting sun. It traveled with me and at 7 a.m. it turned white. For years I have been looking for signs telling me when to convert. Finally I got the message."
She decided to embrace Islam at the mature age of 65. She told her husband and, strangely enough, he did not object and suggested to read more books about it. Even her three sons respected her decision. Finally on Dec 11, 1999 while inaugurating a seminar at Kochi, she declared in public that she's embracing Islam and called herself Dr. Kamla Surayya.
She found great solace and peace in Islam. According to her Islam is the only religion that really recognizes the dignity and prominence of women. She had not found that in the religion she was born into.
She was an ardent supporter of Islamic lifestyle and veil system. In an interview to The Times of India on Dec. 15, she threw down a gauntlet to the so-called champions of women emancipation and empowerment by declaring that "purdah (veil) is a wonderful dress. No man ever makes a pass at a woman in purdah. It provides her with sense of security."
She wrote poems in praise of Almighty Allah and planned a visit to Makkah. In one interview she expressed her profound love to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and said, "I want to kiss the soil in Madinah." During her last ten years she devoted herself to the service of Islam.
She said, "I would like to make Islam, the religion of the new millennium. I will tell the people the virtues of this religion and share the happiness I experienced after embracing Islam. I have no word to explain the contentment I feel now. I have never felt such happiness in my life. I feel loved and protected."
Caliph Omar ibn Al Khattab was a great champion of Islam but few persons realize that it was a lady (his sister Fatima) who brought him to Islam. Allama Iqbal the great poet of the East invites Muslim ladies, Arabs and non Arabs, to adopt the Islamic style and rekindle the Light of Islam among the new generations.
He writes:
O Muslim women,
Out of the evening create a dazzling morn,
To the true Lovers of God,
Recite the Holy Qur'an,
And enthusiastically translate its spirit into action,
Don't you know that the pathos of your recitation
Changed altogether Umar's fate.
(Armaghan-i-Hijaz)
My sister and sister of all Muslims around the world, Dr. Kamla Surayya expired and was laid to rest with state honors at the graveyard of Palayam Jama Masjid in Kerala's capital Thiruvananthapuram, leaving a legacy of "Boldness for the Truth" behind her. We all pray to Almighty Allah to rest her soul in peace. Her last book was the anthology of the poems she wrote in her love for Allah and named it "Ya Allah."
